Sunday, December 4, 2016

I'm sure many have already heard, but Mischief was finally released this past week! You can buy her from the Bnet Store for $10. 100% of December proceeds will be donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. :D

But we got an EXTRA surprise with this year's charity pet - there's an accompanying plushie (sold separately)! Currently, there's no bundle sale for both.

The plushie is sold in the Blizzard Gear Store for $25, and a portion of every December sale will also be donated to the non-profit charity.

The release of a plushie would explain why Mischief's release was postponed by a day. Probably additional things to double check and finalize. But totally worth it. The plush even glows in the dark! :)

I've already collected my little Mischief. Much like Brightpaw she responds to the sit (pictured above) and dance emote commands. I've yet to see her do anything else though, which is a little disappointing considering her name. I was hoping she would have more mischievous animations/interactions. ;P

Regardless, Mischief is adorable! And she helps support a charitable cause. Can't go wrong adopting this little fel kitty. :)

Wowhead and MMO-Champion both have Mischief giveaways, the former ending on December 9 and the latter ending on December 7.

I can't wait until next BlizzCon to learn how much Mischief raised for charity. My only hope is that Blizzard announces separate totals for the pet and the plushie (something like, pet raised X amount, plush raised Y amount, for grand total of Z amount) since I've been keeping track of how much each pet has earned for charity. If they don't separate the values then the numbers will include the plushie, and I'm mainly focusing on the pet.

Anyway, pick up this kitty if you can! Mischief will still be available after December ends, but proceeds will not be going to charity at that point.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

The in-game anniversary event started this week and there's a new pet to collect -- Corgi Pup. Mine (pictured above) is still trying to figure out his Leather Pet Bed. ;P

How to obtain this pet: Just log into the game, collect your in-game mail, and the gift package will have everything you need to purchase your very own derp puppy. :)

It costs 200 Timewarped Badges, but keep in mind that each character you log into will receive 200 badges. So if you want to purchase multiple items from the anniversary vendors, you can always use an alt that you don't really care about (bank toon, for example) to purchase the pet.

The anniversary vendors (located in Stormwind and Orgrimmar - the quest from the gift package will take you to them) also give a daily quest that rewards 25 badges if you're looking to stock up.

Don't wait too long to collect the Corgi Pup; the in-game event ends November 30th. The pet is not tradeable or cageable.

I can't believe that it's been 12 years of WoW already. Time flies when you're having fun, huh?

Thank you to Blizzard and to the pet community and everyone in general. This game has been a huge part of my life, good and bad, and I wouldn't trade any moment of it.

Here's to many, many more years of WoW (and of course, PETS!) in the future! ❤ ❤ ❤

Monday, November 7, 2016

Now that we're all winding down from BlizzCon 2016, let's speculate what a "Pet Battle Dungeon" could mean! (If you missed it, this idea was briefly teased during the WoW Q&A panel in response to what the future of Pet Battles holds.)

The one thing that I'm most curious about is whether or not this "dungeon" will be a solo-instance or something you can run with friends and/or random players.

Solo-instance: I could see it being similar to the Celestial Tournament, with mini-bosses (the three rotating trainers) and then the main bosses (the celestial pets) at the end.

If mimicking an actual dungeon though, would there also be trash you need to clear (with your battle pets) before reaching any of the bosses? That could be interesting if done properly!

The downside to this type of scenario is that...it's kind of been done before. Again, we had the Celestial Tournament, so some may not find content like this fresh and new.

Multi-player instance: If the Pet Battle Dungeon allows for multiple battlers to join and work together to defeat...whatever it is inside...that would definitely be something new!

It's hard for me to imagine how this would work though. Would each player bring their team, have their own assigned mobs and bosses to defeat? Pet Battles being largely solo in nature means that grouping people together for a non-solo objective could be quite challenging.

One way that might work draws from my experience with another game. A mobile game called Clicker Heroes. It's completely solo-play, however there are times when you can join a guild/group and work together to defeat a boss. Everyone is in charge of doing as much damage as they can to the big baddie, and rewards are given depending on how much damage is done and in how much time.

So imagine 3 Pet Battlers with 3 of their "best" pets. One (or a few) big bad boss. Each battler needs to inflict as much damage with their battle pets as possible to the boss. The more damage done, in as few rounds as possible, the better the rewards. Everyone goes at the same time and the encounter itself is a solo-like instance, but the battles are occurring simultaneously and affects the boss in a combined effort.

This could, of course, be iterated in differently themed dungeons. Instead of as much damage done, survive with as many pets up at the end as possible. Or heal through as much damage as possible. Lots of possibilities here!

Or it could be a round-robin style of battle. Person A goes first and makes one attack with their first pet, Person B goes next, then Person C, and then back to Person A. This could make for an interesting (if not really long) encounter, and would require a lot of planning beforehand. It could also mean really awesome and satisfying combos as a result of a group effort.

What type of rewards would be appropriate for a Pet Battle Dungeon? More battlestones? Pet Charms? Pet toys? Pet Bandages may be a bit lackluster. New pets could be enticing, but depending on how bad the RNG...could also be frustrating.

I hope they'll provide more information and details on this new feature soon. As excited as I am about it, I'm also somewhat apprehensive. Are Pet Battle Dungeons just another "pet breeding" or "epic battle pets"? We'll have to wait and see. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. :)

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

BlizzCon 2016 pets are now in-game! Unlike previous convention pets, players not be mailed these pets and will instead find Knight-Captain Murky and Legionnaire Murky as two new entries in their Pet Journal.

Select each entry and click on the gift icon in the main window. This will "open" your redeemable pets and ta-da! Two new pets! :D

Although we'll receive both pets, each one can only be summoned and used in a Pet Battle by the appropriate faction. Legionnaire for Horde and Knight-Captain for Alliance. Gotta represent your faction, I guess!

Oddly enough, when each pet is summoned they spawn in as level 110. This is likely a bug...or they've somehow hacked the game and boosted beyond level 25. :P

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

I should preface this guide with the following: Pet Battles is not a quick and short activity. It's a long adventure that requires time, knowledge, and effort. However, it gets progressively easier as you collect and level more pets.

It's all about power gain. Your pets and their quality and level are your power in Pet Battles. The more pets you have, at higher quality and level, the easier things will become.

That being said, here are just a few ways you can level your battle pets (relatively) quickly. There are many strategies, ideas, and so on. Pick what feels acceptable for you.

This guide is not a full Pet Battle guide. It requires some basic knowledge of the system/mechanics involved. This guide simply provides suggestions on how to acquire your first level 25 pet, what to do with it, and how to get more max level battle pets.

Important!: The purpose of your first level 25 battle pet is to help you get more max level pets. Keep this in mind when choosing your first pet to level up.

Strategy 1 - 'Intended progression path'

The original progression path starts in Orgrimmar or Stormwind. Speak with the NPC that teaches you the Pet Battle skill and accept the quest. This will start the long quest chain that will take you through each zone to battle trainers, each with increasing level and difficulty. (List of zones by pet level)

To supplement pet levels between trainer battles, you'll want to challenge wild pets. Capture any rare quality (blue) wild pets that you come across to help bolster your collection. As you climb into higher level pet zones, the pets you capture will help add to the overall level of your collection. Remember: More pets, higher quality, higher level = more power = easier to complete content.

Completing the intended progression path (Pet Battle quest chain) will be extremely beneficial in the end. You will unlock trainer dailies of varying level that, at higher levels, can be used to efficiently power level your battle pets.

Strategy 2 - 'Progression path too long; I have a lot of gold and am willing to spend it'

Use this battlestone on which ever pet you feel you use the most that you currently own. Alternatively, you can purchase a level 1 pet from the Auction House and use the stone on that (most people recommend the Anubisath Idol).

IMPORTANT: You can only add purchased pets of the same level as your highest level pet that you currently have in your Pet Journal. So now that you've boosted one pet to 25, you can head to the AH and purchase and add any other level 25 pets that you want.

It may not be cheap, depending on your server, but it's a fast way to get a decent army of pets ready for Pet Battle content.

Note that there are some pets listed in guides that you cannot trade or buy. You will need to use your newly purchased collection of level 25 pets to go out and capture them in the wild.

This method is better paired with Strategy 1; you'll be grinding on wild pets so why not add in some trainer battles too?

If you have zero level 25 pets, head to Draenor and get yourself a level 3 garrison and unlock the Menagerie. Complete the quest Unearthed Magic for a free Ultimate Battle-Training Stone.

Use this battlestone on which ever pet you feel you use the most that you currently own. Because you will be doing a lot of grinding on wild pets, you should pick a pet that can "carry" lower level ones. This means the pet you choose to boost to 25 should be able to finish fights on its own or with very little help.

You can try and obtain an Anubisath Idol and boost it to 25 with the battlestone, but it will be very RNG dependent as this pet is a drop from a legacy raid boss.

►►How to use your first level 25 pet to level other pets

Method 1 - Capture a higher level wild pet

One way to add to your team of one is to take your level 25 pet and go to Deadwind Pass. Battle and capture an Arcane Eye (wild, is a solo pet so you don't have to fight other pets). Because the pet level of the zone is higher, you'll automatically get a higher level pet.

If you go this route, be sure not to use your level 25 battlestone on a pet that's weak against the Arcane Eyes. Weak against Magic attacks: Flying; weak attacks against Magic: Aquatic. Do not boost these two pet families if you plan on using this method.

Level up your Arcane Eye on other Arcane Eyes (with the help of your first 25 pet), and once it reaches roughly level 20+ (higher level the better) go to Dragonblight in Northrend. Large packs of wild Flying pets spawn in Dragonblight (near the exposed bones) and your Arcane Eye is strong against Flying.

You can use your Arcane Eye on any wild Flying pet, not just the ones in Dragonblight. They are simply the most convenient as they spawn in large groups and have a decent respawn time.

Use the Dragonbone Hatchlings to finish leveling up your Arcane Eye. You can use your first level 25 pet to help, and even add in another lower level pet to leech some levels once your Arcane Eye is 25.

Caution: Dragonbone Hatchlings can spawn with the Cyclone attack, which can potentially ruin this method.

Method 2 - Battle Aquatic wild pets

Boost a turkey (any works), level up a second Flying pet (moths are good), and head to Vale of Eternal Blossoms in Pandaria. Since your turkey is Flying, it's strong against Aquatics, so you want to find Aqautic pets to battle.

Use the turkey's ability Food Coma to crowd control the first enemy pet, swap in your lower level pet, swap it back out for your turkey, and finish the fight with your two Flying pets.

Flying will work well against most Aquatics found anywhere, but like the Dragonbone Hatchlings in Dragonblight, the wild pets in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms are convenient and relatively plentiful. They also usually spawn with 2 additional Aquatic pets, making it easy to level up Flying pets (like the Falcosaur Hatchlings!).

If you've defeated 40 trainers (which is likely if you've completed all of the achievements above), you will receive a Safari Hat. Using it will increase the amount of pet experience your battle pets receive by a bit.

Using the trainer dailies to help power level pets is extremely efficient, as the battles give amazing amounts of pet experience. (Read more about different amounts of pet experience gained from different encounters of varying difficulty.)

On top of granting large chunks of pet experience, the Pandaria dailies also reward pet bags which have a chance to drop battlestones. You can use these to upgrade your pets!

There are many guides on how to use the Pandaria Pet Battle dailies to power level pets. Here is one from WarcraftPets that details which two level 25 pets you need for each battle. Here is one for Draenor trainer dailies (unlike Pandaria dailies, these don't have any prerequisites). They're outdated, but most of the information is still great advice.

I recommend using the Ashlei battle in Draenor first to carry a level 1 pet, and then heading to Pandaria to complete the trainer dailies.

►►Things to note

■ To "carry" a lower level, you want to make sure it doesn't take any damage. It only needs to be your active pet for one round, so swap it in when you feel the enemy team will use a move that does little to no damage, and then swap it out for one of your higher level pets to finish the fight.

You don't want to battle wild pets that have a team-wide AOE. Pet families that can spawn with AOE attacks or persisting damage (but not always): Flying, Magic, Elemental and certain Critters. Be wary of using these for leveling sub-level 5 pets.

■ Be sure to capture any rare quality (blue) wild pets that you don't already have.

■ Once you have a handful of pets at max level, you can head to any zone and battle the wild pets there. The higher the level of the zone, the higher the level of the wild pets.

►►Stand out "carry pets" for grinding pet levels

This list is subjective, however there are some pets that are often recommended due to their power and survivability.

I've ranked these pets based on my own preference (1 being top tier). Other pet battlers may rate them differently.

Friday, October 7, 2016

Yesterday while doing a Pet Battle World Quest on the 7.1 PTR, I noticed that one of the adds in the fight looked a little odd. At first I thought my eyes were deceiving me, but upon closer inspection I discovered the Mountain Cottontail in all its glossy glory!

After the battle I promptly sought out a wild Mountain Cottontail on the PTR and found one as a secondary pet. It took a few restarts, but I managed to get it spawn in with its new shiny appearance.

It seems the special version of the cottontail will be back in 7.1! (see above screenshot for glossy skin on the left and normal white on the right)

Unfortunately the updated look doesn't seem to be retroactive. The existing Mountain Cottontail in my Pet Journal on the PTR (was originally shiny) did not have the new skin. Instead, it remained a color-changer so it had the chance to be spawn in with the glossy appearance, but it wasn't guaranteed. Capturing a new cottontail that started out with the shiny skin guaranteed that it retained the look.

It's a little inconvenient that we'll have to capture new Mountain Cottontails in 7.1, but on the bright side we won't have to travel to Redridge to find these wild bunnies. They also appear in Highmountan in Legion, hooray!

I'm ecstatic that this special wild pet will be making a come back. Big THANK YOU to Blizzard for maintaining these small details that mean so much to some collectors. It's the little things that make the game that much more fun and amazing. ❤

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

NOTE: As of Patch 7.1 release the falcosaur WQ areas are a bit buggy, resulting in the Orphaned Hatchling not spawning even after defeating the Matriarch. It should appear as soon as you kill the Matriarch, but there are weird phasing issues in these questing areas that might be affecting the hatchling spawn for some and not others.

Here are some things you can try to troubleshoot:

- Re-zone (leave the questing area and come back)
- If in a group, drop group and reform
- If not in a group, find someone from your server that's in the same zone and create a group with them
- Relog
- Kill the Matriarch again (be sure to loot her body) and again and again...and again!

And if this wasn't clear already, the Orphaned Hatchling does not spawn directly on or next to the Matriarch. It has a static spawn in the quest area, sometimes fairly far away from the Matriarch's location. Using /tar orphan helps.

Also, yes, you can collect both falcosaur hatchlings in the same day. There is no cooldown for collecting them.

There is, however, an internal cooldown on the quests that the hatchlings give. It seems to be a day for most players.

It's possible to pick up additional quests if you have other level 110 characters, however this does not always work for everyone, and it's unclear if it's intended, a bug, or could be seen as an exploit. Blizzard has not commented on this. Attempt at your own discretion.

Just be patient - your pet is just a baby still, give it some time! :)

Good luck to everyone seeking these pets (and/or the mounts)!

Edit: If you're looking to collect just the mounts, be aware that 2 out of the 4 mounts will NOT be available until the Nighthold is released. The Direbeak and Bloodgazer questlines require boss kills in this upcoming raid zone.

The only 2 mounts currently available are Snowfeather and Sharptalon.

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Developer Jeremey Feasel reminded me yesterday that in addition to the RWLIV content coming in 7.1, there are baby flacosaurus pets to collect! And after testing on the PTR, I can definitely say that they are pretty unique pets, obtained in a unique way.

To obtain them, you must first have the World Quest for their area. Sharptalon Swarm! for the Sharptalon Hatchling, Direbeak Swarm! for the Direbeak Hatchling, and so on.

These WQs seem to be up for 2 days each, and more than one can be active at a time. I'm not sure what the respawn/cooldown time is for these quests.

If the World Quest for a specific type is not up, it doesn't seem possible to collect the pet of that species. This is because the Matriarch of the brood will not spawn, and she's the key to finding the orphaned hatchling.

Defeating a Matriarch of any of the four falcosaur species will spawn an orphaned hatchling nearby. (We're monsters, I know. Killing the mother just to scoop up the babies.)

I found using "/tar orphan" helpful, but they appear to be static spawns so once you know the location of one, you can return to the same spot for that species.

The orphan appears to remain spawned so long as the World Quest for its type is active and/or if you haven't collected it yet. You can leave the area and come back, and if the quest is still up the orphaned hatchling will still be there.

Interacting with the orphaned hatchling will initially yield nothing except flavor dialogue. But a hint was dropped on Twitter that each falcosaur pets' description in the Pet Journal might provide some insight.

Here are the descriptions for each of the falcosaur babies. Pay close attention to the underlined part.

Bloodgazer Hatchling - "Though they may look fierce, the bloodgazer species of falcosaur has a beak that makes it predisposed to consuming fruits."

Direbeak Hatchling - "Direbeak falcosaurs are heartier than other falcosaur species, but cannot smell as well. They prefer pungent meals and will often eat carrion that has been sitting in the sun for days."

Sharptalon Hatchling - "Sharptalon falcosaurs can subsist entirely on a diet of small nuts and berries, and use their talons mostly for defense."

Snowfeather Hatchling - "Snowfeather falcosaur hatchlings instinctively flee to nearby adults when threatened. The species is particularly fond of large prey."

Each falcosaur has a special type of food that they respond to. Bring it the right food and you'll get a wonderful reward!

So after brainstorming for a while and trying out different items (and failing a lot) for the Direbeak and Sharptalon Hatchlings, I got lucky and purchased the right food for the Bloodgazer Hatchling. As the Pet Journal noted, they enjoy fruit. But not just any fruit, Azsunian Grapes!

Perhaps the food each falcosaur is native to the zone they're found in? With that in mind I searched for different foods purchasable in Val'sharah for the Sharptalon Hatchling. There weren't any nuts to be found, but there were a few different kinds of berries. And what do you know? It took some of my Dried Bilberries!

I'm not sure if each hatchling will only accept a specific food, or if a variety of nommies are ok so long as they fall into their preferred food category.

That's as far as I've gone in terms of collecting these baby dino-birds. The orphaned Direbeak despawned on me since the WQ timed out, and I've yet to see the Snowfeather quest pop up. This leaves me some time to brainstorm what food to bring for each falcosaur though. My current guesses are Pungent Vrykul Gamalost or Pungent and Moldy Gamalost and Charcoaled Elderhorn. Stinky cheeses and large game fits their description right? :P

But wait, there's more! These hatchlings aren't just for collecting, there are quests to complete as well. They remind me a little of the Children's Week orphan quest chains.

After adding these pets to your Pet Journal and then summoning it out, the hatchlings will each have a quest for you. Level them up to 25!

Leveling it to max will complete the quest. The hatchlings require a nap time after each adventure (there seems to be an internal cooldown on the quests), but your hatchling will eventually have a new task for you.

I only have two out of the four falcosaurs, so I can't be certain -- but it seems each one has a slightly different quest chain. You can have different quests active at the same time. After leveling each one to 25, I received the following:

Yesterday night I started the PVP Honor grind with a few guildmates. To sum up the experience:

Arenas are not worth it. The Honor earned is just dismal.

Battlegrounds are a little better (if you win, at least).

PVP World Quests are the best in terms of Honor and time.

After hours and hours of grinding mainly bgs, I checked my Honor level and it was only 16. I had started the night at level 9. What.

I was incredulous. All of that and I had only earned 7 levels? Needless to say, I then realized that the Grind. Is. Real.

This made me stop and and seriously think about these PVP Prestige battle pets. Not only do I need to grind to Prestige 1, but I need to keep going and max out for this season so that I won't be behind once Season 2 comes out in 7.1. There is a new pet coming in S2 that, as a collector, I need to fulfill my gameplay.

Did I mention that all of this has to be done on Alliance AND Horde? I'll have to endure the grind on not just one character but two, just to collect these pets.

Is this worth it? How will other collectors fair? Why does it have to be this way?

@Spankyhunter@perksnpeeves ... and I think to the average collector the stick is starting to get too long to see the carrot any more

After some long and hard contemplation, I'm on the verge of excluding the Prestige pets completely. It pains me to even consider this, but trying out the grind and then realizing just how long of a journey it is (in quite possibly the most uncomfortable part of the game for me)... I just can't think of what my other options are.

At first, when I first heard about the Prestige pet (singular, not plural) I thought I would be ok. Prestige once and then be done, once on Alliance and then Horde - even someone who's as allergic to PVP as can be like me can manage that, right? But with the news of a second pet being introduced next season...that changes things.

I'm already pretty lucky and have guildmates who will help, but what about collectors that don't have that luxury?

I don't want to over-generalize, but a good portion of the pet collecting community are just not that into PVP. Collecting is largely a solo-form of gameplay and fighting others is generally not necessary. "Care-bear" is thrown around a lot, but really, some just prefer to avoid certain activities that make the game less enjoyable for them. PVP is one of those activities.

It seems unfair to put collectors in this situation where they must choose between their collection (gameplay) and being coerced into a part of the game that they've chosen to largely avoid.

There are some collectors that love PVP, and that's great that they can collect while PVP'ing. But just like them, there are collectors that enjoy raiding, and some that don't. Some that like professions, others less so. Collectors that prefer making gold, and collectors that don't. And so on.

However, unlike every other aspect of the game, the PVP pets are only for those that PVP. There's simply no other way to collect them. Don't want to raid? That's ok, because the raid-dropped pets will be up on the Auction House in time. Same with many other pets that can initially only be obtained from a single source -- they can be traded and/or caged and thusly made available to many types of collectors.

Perhaps Blizzard wanted to put an emphasis on how special PVP is now, and that's why these pets are so exclusive. Raiding? Psh. That's just an everyday thing now, right? Some raiders will have words with you if that's the case.

So this whole PVP thing feels like a mistake. Adding in a reward that many PVP'ers will probably ignore and not benefit from, and placing that reward in an aspect of the game that collectors (that actually want the pet) try to avoid... it feels very underhanded as if something else is at play here. Like maybe WoW has this new shiny Prestige System that Blizzard wants us, everyone, to get into so that it's a HUGE SUCCESS! And what better way, than to add a pet, because you know collectors will flock to it, right?

Sorry for the sarcasm, I'm pretty upset about all of this.

I don't think Blizzard can take back what they've already implemented, nor do I think they want to. But I implore them to consider the following options for future PVP seasons:

1. Don't include a battle pet reward.

2. Include a battle pet reward, but make it tradeable/cageable so PVP'ers AND non-PVP'ers can benefit.

Option #2 seems to be the best of both worlds - you can reward PVP'ers for their efforts (doubly so since they will be able to make a one time profit from selling the pet if they choose to), and collectors that are actively avoiding PVP won't feel forced into an activity that they don't enjoy.

I hope I'm not alone in feeling this way about the Prestige PVP pets. As opposed as I am towards PVP, I'm open to compromise. I'm sure there's a better way to implement these pets without taking away from the PVP community, and simultaneously not excluding the collecting community.

Thursday, September 29, 2016

UPDATE: As of Patch 7.1, this method may no longer work or be reliable. Current testing has shown that some WQ trainers work and some don't, making this strategy inconsistent. It's unclear if this is an intended or unintended change. Attempt at your own discretion.

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The "alt character without World Quests unlocked" strat for the Family Familiar achievement is not a secret but it's not very obvious, so here's a quick summary and explanation of it.

What it is: It's essentially a work-around to the once-a-day per toon World Quests, allowing you to complete Family Familiar at a much faster rate than you would normally.

Characters with World Quests unlocked will find that they are only able to battle the active Broken Isles Pet Battle trainers once a day. Winning the encounter will complete the quest, making it impossible to repeat that same battle on the same day with that toon. You have to wait for the quests to rotate and hope each day that one of the Family Familiar trainers pops up.

Using the alt character-strat bypasses this, and allows you to battle that same trainer repeatedly on the same day (only on that specific character). Since the alt doesn't really complete anything (other than the Pet Battle), it doesn't incur a lockout and you'll be able to start and finish the trainer battle over and over. You won't receive any rewards on that character of course, but progress for Family Familiar can be reward enough. :)

This may seem like an exploit, however it was noticed and brought up during Legion Beta. I asked a developer if this was intended behavior for Pet Battle World Quests, and it seems that it is intended. So unless this has changed since beta, this strategy for completing Family Familiar faster is not an exploit.

How to do it: The only requirement is to have a character at max level (110), and DO NOT unlock World Quests.

This means you want to avoid completing the 'earn friendly reputation with X Broken Isles factions' milestone. Alts that are not level 110 will not work for this.

Once you've reached max level, log onto your main character (one that has World Quests unlocked) and see where the Broken Isles Pet Battle quests are located for the day. You can then take that information and hop onto your second character, travel to that location, find the trainer, speak with them and then engage in a Pet Battle over and over.

Note that the Suramar Pet Battle trainers are not included in this. Because they are unlocked during the Suramar storyline, alts without access to World Quests will not have Suramar progress and therefore will be unable to battle these trainers. They can see them and interact with the NPCs, but they won't be able to challenge them to a Pet Battle.

And that's about it!

Last but not least, if you're wondering what addon allows me to track Family Familiar in such an easy and convenient manner in the screenshot above, it's Family Familiar Helper! Made by Gello, who also created and maintains the awesome addon Rematch. Both are must haves for any pet collector/battler.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

After many frustrating attempts, multiple failed strategies, and hours of trial and error... I finally defeated Algalon the Observer in a Pet Battle on the PTR and completed the quest that rewards Stardust!

This battle was possibly the toughest I've ever encountered. Algalon has high health, hard-hitting, Elite legendary pets that had annoying abilities...so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people run into trouble with this battle.

I'm sure some will have no problem defeating him, but if you're like me and find yourself struggling against him, here is the strategy/pets that I used. (I wish I could battle him again so I could test out my strategy to make sure it wasn't just a fluke, but alas you can't fight him once you've defeated him once.)

Keep in mind that this is PTR, so Algalon's pets/battle is subject to change.

3.) Emerald Proto-Whelp - Emerald Dream, Ancient Blessing, and constantly use these two healing abilities whenever they're off cooldown while filling in the gaps with Breath until Cosmos dies.

Notes: You must time Emerald Dream just before Cosmos' force-swap ability. The bunny uses this ability on cooldown, which is annoying. However, when your pet is asleep, Algalon's pet cannot swap it out.

4.) Cosmos dies, Emerald Proto-Whelp should still be alive, Algalon swaps to Constellatius

6.) Infested Bear Cub - Use Hibernate on cooldown and just pass your turn until Constellatius kills all active pets with Apocalypse.

Notes: Because the Infested Bear Cub is Undead, it will take less damage from Constellatius' only attack (Tail Sweep), giving you more room for error.

Algalon's pet uses Wish pretty much on cooldown. Instead of trying to beat through the healing, use its Apocalypse ability against him. Outlast Constellatius by healing your pet and letting Apocalypse expire, killing all active pets.

Emerald Proto-Whelp should be last pet standing. Hooray, you've won!

I'm absolutely ecstatic that I finally defeated this encounter. I went through many different strategies and struggled so much; I thought that I would just have to wait until a pet battle-theorycrafter came up with a viable strategy.

But after consulting the OH and having him give it some attempts, we formulated a solid plan that involved knocking down Algalon's first pet (dragon) because it did massive AOE, avoiding getting force-swapped when facing his second pet (bunny), and then simply letting his third pet (hippo) kill itself. A huge thank you to the OH for helping me brainstorm and test different ideas. :)

Although it was initially VERY frustrating, it was ultimately VERY satisfying completing this Pet Battle. I can't wait to do it again on live once Patch 7.1 is released!

Last but not least, Stardust's idle animation - it turns into a shooting star, flies up into the air and circles around for a little bit before falling back down next to you. NEAT! :D

I'm happy to say that after some testing, it appears that the majority of them do do stuff! Some are only color-changers, but that's still awesome. I hope their color changing ability is intended and they stay that way. :)

Sunday, September 11, 2016

Legion has been a blast so far! However, there seems to be a lack of detailed information in certain areas. More for us to discover/learn, yes, but it can also lead to a lot of confusion and frustration.

One of these 'missing' details is the 4th Pet Battle World Quest in Suramar. I have a feeling that many may not be aware that while the 3 Pet Battle quests around the other Broken Isles zones are guaranteed, there is a 4th WQ that can sometimes appear in Suramar (it's not guaranteed to appear every day).

Not everyone will see this elusive 4th WQ, though. To access it you must complete certain Nightfallen storylines. Suramar and its content is heavily gated, and you won't get the Pet Battle WQ unless you've unlocked them first.

Unfortunately, it's not entirely clear which quest chains unlock which Pet Battle WQ. Wowhead does a great job of listing the Nightfallen quest chains and the other WQs that they unlock, but it doesn't list the Pet Battle ones.

If you have information on which quest chains grant access to which Suramar Pet Battle WQ, please let me know!

If you've completed up to and including Blood and Wine, you should be able to see Clear the Catacombs and Flummoxed, at the very least. These are the ones that I recently completed after having finished the aforementioned storyline.

Another hidden detail about these WQ is that they are on a different timer than the rest of the Pet Battle quests. I think this is due to the fact that you need to unlock them first.

So make sure you progress through the Suramar storyline, and keep checking your map to ensure you don't miss a Pet Battle WQ!

Thursday, August 4, 2016

I've largely been quiet about the elephant in the room in 7.0.3, but a point was recently made that really resonated with me.

Let's talk about the stealth nerf to the Menagerie daily, shall we?

The Menagerie daily is now account-wide as of the pre-expansion patch. This includes all dailies handed out by the Menagerie NPC (regardless of building level or faction).

With all that's been going on since 7.0.3 dropped (updating the WarcraftPets database, managing my own characters with the talent and spec changes, transmog stuff, etc.), I haven't commented much on the stealth change to the Menagerie daily.

Initially, everyone speculated that being unable to pick up and complete the daily on more than one character was a bug since there was absolutely NO mention in the released patch notes about changes to the daily other than reduced Pet Charm rewards. (Patch notes have since been edited to include the additional daily change.)

It was later revealed on a secondary patch notes page that the daily becoming account-wide was indeed intended. This underhanded ninja nerf is what upset the Pet Battle community more than anything, nevermind the actual change. It was unexpected, initially unannounced, and seemingly uncalled for.

Many can understand why the double nerf (reduced Pet Charm rewards PLUS account-wide Menagerie daily change) was implemented -- the garrison was just too strong. Those with multiple characters reaped what could be considered an excessive amount of rewards over the span of WoD, and these changes were made primarily to dissuade players from camping their garrisons in Legion. I strongly believe that the target audience for these nerfs are veterans of not just the game, but also veteran Pet Battlers with multiple characters.

One thing Blizzard didn't consider, however, is how this would affect newer players and those just starting to hop into Pet Battles. This double whammy impacts their impression of Pet Battles the most.

Most veterans will have stockpiled enough Pet Charms to last for quite a while in Legion, so it's really no skin off their backs. Veterans largely remember what it was like leveling, grinding, and progressing without the luxury of Pet Charms -- it's nothing new for them, it's not a culture-shock.

But noobies, who may have joined later and rely on Pet Charms to level pets and participate in Pet Battles, will now struggle to earn Pet Charms to purchase bandages, pet food, and battlestones until Legion drops. Even in Legion, prior to level 110 there isn't much content for battlers to collect Pet Charms. Going from 100 to 0 can be a huge shock, especially for those who have never known any other style of gameplay other than 'use charms to progress'.

On top of this, many are upset at the fact that their multiple Menageries across multiple characters are now a wasted investment. An account-wide daily means that any building constructed will be largely unusable once you've completed and turned in the daily on your first character for the day. Yes, you can still purchase items and heal at the Menagerie, but I think a large draw for dumping gold into building the lot for many players was the daily, dropped pets, and the Pet Charms. Not so much the vendor.

All of this has caused a stir in the community. An unpleasant stir.

I definitely agree that this should have been handled better. If they had intended to hand out this double nerf from the get-go, it should have been announced prior to 7.0.3 going live so collectors could have a chance to adjust and prepare accordingly. Suddenly logging in to find an unannounced change is completely jarring and it's only understandable that players would have a negative knee-jerk reaction to the unexpected change.

Despite my silence on this topic, it does bother me that the account-wide status of the Menagerie daily went unannounced, and we had to find out about it through some player sleuthing (the change was finally officially noted in a SECOND patch notes page, not the one initially released) rather than a Blizzard representative addressing our questions and concerns.

I'm also bothered by the fact that throughout all of this, there was ZERO compromise on the matter. Just flat nerfs. Yes, I can understand why the changes had to happen, but I don't agree that there was nothing to be done to offset the negative.

This comment is what really sparked my desire to express my 2 cents. It struck me as the perfect compromise that COULD HAVE been included - it would have been the perfect time for it - but wasn't.

A baked in reduced cooldown on the pet revive/heal as a reward would have been a great way to help balance the changes in 7.0.3. With the removal of garrison perks, many other bonuses were baked into gameplay but for some reason the Pet Battle one (reduced revive/heal cooldown while in Draenor) was left out.

I think adding a cooldown reduction (in general, not just for Draenor) as part of a 'you built the Menagerie and upgraded to level 3!' achievement would be a wonderful positive in what has been perceived as an overwhelmingly negative patch for pet battlers/collectors. Would it erase the whole Menagerie daily debacle? No. But it would be a wonderful peace-making gesture.

Overall, I'm going to give Blizzard the benefit of the doubt about all of this. Do I think there was malicious intent? No. Do I think there were oversights and poor communication? Yes. Do I agree with all of the changes? No, not really BUT I can understand why they were necessary adjustments to the game, and have largely accepted them.

Some may not be able to overlook this matter or take it as lightly, and it could turn them off from Pet Battling completely...or for at least a while. (It's hard to say no to cute and cuddly pets...)

So an additional change to give players some kind of compensation for investing in a max level Menagerie (often on multiple characters) would go a long way. The best one that I've seen suggested is definitely the reduced cooldown of the pet revive/heal, for all zones and not exclusively Draenor.

Monday, July 25, 2016

Some of them are BoP, some of them are BoU. Thankfully, ALL of them can be caged. So it's not absolutely necessary that we'll need to have each profession to collect these pets (time to make friends with your local crafter! ;P)

It should be noted that crafting in Legion is not quite the same as in previous expansions. Many recipes are not simply learned from a trainer or from a dropped plan.

Instead, there are quite a few recipes that can only be obtained by completing profession quests. All of the alchemy pets, one of the enchanting pets, the engineering pet, and archaeology pet all require the completion of a quest or a series of quests.

Here's a summary for the profession pets that will require questing (please correct me if I get any of this information wrong!)

Alchemy - Alchemists will need to complete a quest chain to unlock the purchasable recipe for Wild Transmutation. Creating this has a chance to teach a number of other transmutations. The one pet collectors are aiming for is Transmute: Meat to Pet. This creates an item that, after 7 days, has a chance to drop one of the 3 new alchemy pets. It should be noted that Legion transmutation recipes have a one day cooldown.

Enchanting - Excluding the Enchanted Cauldron and Enchanted Torch, both of which are learned from purchased recipes, the Enchanted Pen recipe requires completing a quest chain, starting with the quest An Enchanting Home (requires player level 106).

Engineering - I haven't been able to find much information on how to learn the recipe to craft this pet, except that it may come from a quest or event called Trigger Happy.

Archaeology - The archaeology trainer will have quests for level 110 players every 2 weeks. Completing these quests will teach the player 'rare solves', one of which is the new pet.

In WoD there were certain garrison buildings pet collectors needed/wanted to build in order to collect specific pets. Legion is similar in that you'll need/want to meet specific criteria, but instead of garrison buildings, collectors will need to level characters of specific classes.

There will be 4 pets that are exclusive to 3 classes. These pets are BoP and cannot be caged. The only way to obtain these pets is to level certain classes to at least level 105. Thankfully we won't have to level all of these characters to max just for the pets ;P

Here are the classes collectors will need (and the pets associated with them).

"That seems to be currently on the state of affairs . This daily quest is now far account and can be done only on a character , therefore : Unfortunately Absammeln no pet brands .

I can certainly understand that this response is not necessarily desired . Should there be need for discussion on this change , this carries me in the General Forum as a potential discussion there learns a little more attention and is seen by more players."

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Patch 7.0.3 has been out for about half a week now and while there are perks, there are definitely some pet peeves.

But let's talk bugs. Or possible bugs.

So far I've heard of 2 issues that Pet Battlers have been experiencing.

No, but some players are finding that they cannot use battlestones on it, and the broom's level appears as zero when summoned. It can still earn experience and battle just fine though.

2.) Menagerie daily...or is it?

There's mounting evidence that Battle Pet Roundup/Scrappin' and Mastering the Menagerie were intended to be changed to account-wide in this patch, however something went wrong, terribly wrong. This has left many players wondering what's bugged and what's intended. Some toons can pick up the daily, some alts can't, some can on some days, other days they can't, etc.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Now that the Patch 7.0.3 dust has settled a little (so many changes - love the Wardrobe system, can't praise it enough), I'd like to take a moment and mourn the loss of the beloved 'glossy-skin' Mountain Cottontail (pre-7.0.3 version pictured above).

In this pre-expansion patch a few pet models received updates to make them look fluffier and less jagged.

The bunny/rabbit model was included in the model updates, but an unfortunate side-effect is that although the Mountain Cottontail appears with a BRAND NEW SHINY-GOLD SKIN (omg!) in the Pet Journal (see image below), it does not retain that appearance when summoned out or in a battle.

If you collected a 'shiny' Mountain Cottontail before 7.0.3, you'll find that your bunny friend has turned into a color-changer. When summoned it will take on the appearance of any of its possible skins...EXCEPT the shiny-gold (glossy) skin.

This is disheartening and very disappointing but it's something that I knew was coming since it was a bug (or intended?) on the PTR prior to 7.0.3's release. I was hoping that this error would get fixed by the time the patch dropped, but there were probably more pressing issues for developers to address.

Many, myself included, went out of their way to collect a glossy Mountain Cottontail. It took time and effort, but felt highly rewarding upon capturing your own special bunny. It was unique but not out of reach like promotional pets or limited time companions. It was proof of dedication as a collector.

As it is right now, this rabbit looks like any other...but if you own a shiny version, you know the truth! Dare I say that owners of a glossy cottontail are lucky?

This is because, unfortunately, it will be impossible for those who have yet to capture their own glossy Mountain Cottontail to find and capture one post-7.0.3.

Since this particular pet is now a color-changer that does NOT use the shiny-gold skin when summoned or in battle, it will not appear as such in the wild. This makes it completely indistinguishable from other generic-colored Mountain Cottontails. Collectors have no way of determining whether or not the wild cottontail they're facing is actually the shiny version (without capturing every single one they come across and checking their Pet Journal, that is).

I really do hope that developers find some spare time to fix the Mountain Cottontail and return it to its previous glossy-glory. While I enjoy color-changers and find them charming, I also adored my shiny Mountain Cottontail in its own uniqueness. It's just not the same now.

If they can somehow use the new bunny model but preserve the unique, shiny skin, that would be ideal. I don't think many collectors would object to having an ACTUAL shiny-gold rabbit following them around!

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Update: After more testing on the PTR, it looks like the Mountain Cottontail has turned into a color-changer when summoned out. In the Pet Journal it keeps the shiny gold skin. Entering a battle will randomly generate one of its skins too, but I've yet to see it pick the shiny gold version.

I'm not sure if this color-changing mechanic is intended or not. Or if it's a side-effect of the transition from the glossy skin to this upgraded model/gold skin.

One thing that has me concerned is that if it stays a color-changer (both as a summoned battle pet and during an encounter), how will collectors know if the wild Mountain Cottontail they're facing is the shiny version? They simply can't tell until they've captured it and checked the Pet Journal for the gold skin.

Hopefully this will get fixed prior to the pre-expansion patch, and the shiny gold skin will stick to the cottontail both in battles and outside of them.

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I don't know why I didn't think to check on the updated pet models when the pre-expansion patch launched on the PTR. But they're in!

New models for quite a few battle pets; sorry if I miss any:

rabbits

rats/mice

squirrels

sheep

raven/crow

Keep in mind that these are simply updated models for already existing pets. Most of the Legion pets have their own new looks.

With these model updates, there was one pet in particular I was concerned about. When the new rabbit model was first discovered we all knew that it could greatly impact the infamous "shiny" Mountain Cottontail. I was anxiously waiting for the character/data copy function to become available so that I could import and check my own cottontail (I have the glossy-skin version on live).

Well I'm happy to report that after importing my collection and checking the PTR tonight, the Pet Journal has been updated with an actual SHINY Mountain Cottontail! (pictured above)

LOOK AT HOW GOLD AND SHINY IT IS OMG. (Anyone else feel like it's about to eat their soul.... *stares very intently at its red eyes*)

However, not all is well and good with this pet. Unfortunately when you summon it out, it doesn't retain its new skin. Instead it uses a generic white bunny look. Needless to say, I was so disappointed and heartbroken.

I'm hoping extra hard that the developers have a bit of time to grant this one-of-a-kind bunny its special skin before the pre-expansion patch is released. It's a pet that holds a unique spot in my collection (and I'm sure many other collectors' collections), and it took time and dedication to acquire it (I spent hours searching for it). It would be devastating to see it fall to the level of every other rabbit/bunny critter.

Other than this one hiccup though, I'm really looking forward to seeing the new and improved (and FLUFFIER) pets coming prior to Legion's release! :D

After some testing, I've found that other players cannot pick up or complete the quest from the NPC that you summon, only the original summoner can do so. So we'll each need our own Sternfathom's Pet Journals for the new Pet Battle weekly in Legion.

When I entered battle with him, two of his pets (Scuttles and Kiazor) only had 2 abilities listed in their tooltips. This might simply be a bug.

The NPC will die/despawn (can a ghost die? haha) after a few minutes, but thankfully you can keep resummoning him (the toy has a short cooldown time of 2 minutes). You can only pick up the quest once (per week) though.

If his time runs out while you're mid-battle, he will not despawn until you've left the encounter. No cheating Mister Grand Master Tamer. Can't run away mid-battle just because I'm about to win! :P

What happens once you've completed his quest and turn it in? I'm not entirely sure since I have yet to try out the battle for myself. Will we be able to keep summoning him? Will he be willing to battle us even if we do not have the quest? My guess for the first question is yes. The second question...that's more up in the air.

If the NPC continues to offer to battle even after we've completed and turned his quest for the week, this could mean an endless source of pet experience. Trainer battles are known for their high pet exp yield, especially the ones with 3 epic quality level 25 pets, so...a bit of an exploit there?

With that in mind, my best guess is that no, we will not be able to continue battling him post-quest completion. At least, not until we've picked up the quest again. We might be able to interact with him and he'll have some quirky dialogue for us, but that will probably be it.

Final thoughts: This quest is almost as if the WoD weekly and the 'traveling trainer' (Erris/Kura) were combined. Except there's only one objective to complete for the Legion quest (defeat the Grand Master Pet Tamer once a week), and the appearance of the Tamer is not random. You control when and where (in Azsuna) you decide to battle him. It's like a simplified version of the two aforementioned WoD Pet Battle quest mechanics that's much more convenient for players.

What a fun and interesting find! More unique/different mechanics for Pet Battle content is always welcome. It breaks up the monotony and keeps us on our toes. 'Where will the next unlock/discovery/content come from today?!' :)

They did contact me prior to reposting about using my blog posts for their website, however I never consented. I had no idea what the website was, what it was about, etc., yet I was open and willing to discuss it further. I provided a contact address and an invitation to talk it over, but no further communication ever came from them.

I've since contacted the website and requested that they provide proper accreditation, which they've done (in the most minimal of ways, but hey, it's something).

Still, in light of this, I think it's a good opportunity to clarify some things about my blog.

*ahem*

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Thank you for taking an interest and reading my personal blog Perks N Peeves! Here I write about pet collecting, battling and my silly adventures/discoveries with World of Warcraft battle pets.

If you've enjoyed any of my blog posts and would like to share and/or repost certain content, you are most welcome to spread the joy of battle pets! However, please follow my Creative Commons terms:

Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

Friday, June 17, 2016

The PTR for the pre-Legion patch is up and ready for testing! There are some issues that Blizzard is working on addressing (server/connection stability and character copies), but otherwise it's time to check out what Pet Battle stuff will be changing/updated in the content patch prior to the expansion.

Draenor Pet Battle dailies have had their Pet Charm rewards reduced - Draenor dailies will yield half the Pet Charms that they currently award.

Brawler's Guild on hiatus - In the Pre-Legion patch, the Brawler's Guild will go on hiatus making Clock'em temporarily unavailable. It's unknown when it will re-open.

WoD Digital Deluxe special bundle retired - The special bundle that players can purchase to collect the WoD CE/Digital Deluxe mount and pet will be retiring and unavailable post-patch.

- What's new?

Felbat Pup - This pet will be available during the pre-expansion content (Demon Invasion World Event). You'll need to complete roughly 7 scenarios to collect enough Nethershards to purchase this pet (costs 1800, each invasion rewards 260).

It's unclear if the pet will remain available after the World Event ends, similar to the Bronze Whelpling during the pre-WoD content patch.

- Unknowns

Deathwatch Hatchling - Logically, this pet should follow the same pattern as MoP's Guild Gold Challenge Mode unlockable pet (Thundering Serpent Hatchling), and find its way onto the BMAH. However I have yet to confirm that this will be the case.

The PTR Pet Journal still lists the Deathwatch Hatchling as a guild vendor item; the journal might not be updated yet OR Blizzard could have decided against removing the pet from vendors.

Friday, May 13, 2016

IF the World Quests remain NOT account-wide, this means the more max level characters you have the sooner you can complete the related achievements. A certain Master Trainer is up? Hop onto your various max level toons and use a different pet-family team on each.

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Dissecting how long it will take to complete upcoming Pet Battle challenges/goals in Legion, with thoughts/opinions on account-wide vs. not towards the end.

The absolute earliest we can complete this achievement and increase our Pet Journal cap is 10 days after reaching level 110. Realistically it will probably take 10+ days.

Each day there are 3 Pet Battle World Quests available to complete. With VERY GOOD RNG, each of the quests that first pop up during those first 10 days at max level will be different and not repeats.

Testing has shown that repeats are possible and likely. However, the achievement only requires 30 quests out of a total of 37, so initially all of the quests you come across should be unique. But you never know. Sometimes RNG can be kind and sometimes not.

Side note: Account-wide or not doesn't really matter for this achievement. World Quests are set to be static region-wide, so any quest you complete on your main will be the same quest available to any alts that you have.

The earliest we can complete this quest is more random than the other one. This is because again, RNG can be unkind.

There are a total of 15 possible "master" Tamers, but that's a little less than half of the total number of possible Pet Battle World Quests. It's more than likely that you'll come across a few days where a master Tamer simply isn't up at all.

On top of that, because you can only battle a Tamer once per lockout you'll need certain quests to pop up multiple times in order to defeat the master Tamers using a team of pets from a different family. For example, defeat Nightwatcher Merayl using only Flying pets one day, and then a team comprised of only Beast pets two days later when her quest reappears.

Thankfully we don't need to defeat all 15 master Tamers 10 times each; we can choose the 12 we want to battle for each of the 10 pet families. Going up against X Tamer is too tough for a Mech team? You can always wait for Y Tamer, but that's leaving it a little up to chance because it's random when a different Tamer will show up.

So we'll need 120 battles total to complete this achievement and collect the new pet, but it's entirely up to the randomness of World Quests that will determine when we're able to accomplish this.

It should be noted that it's still not settled if these quests will be account-wide or not. Developer Jeremy Feasel notes that they currently are not account-wide (so we can complete them on different max level characters), but this is subject to change.

Account-wide quests

Best case scenario: at least 1 master Tamer each day, we'll complete this challenge in ~120 days (4 months).

If you have 10 toons, you could check off one Tamer for each of the 10 pet families each day. This would cut down completion time drastically.

But you also have to factor in leveling time for each character, since these quests can only be accessed at max level.

How much time we'll have to invest into Family Familiar is still a bit up in the air. We'll have to wait and see.

Account-wide?
Currently, I'm a bit conflicted when it comes to account-wide vs. not account-wide for Pet Battle World Quests.

Account-wide quests would limit our ability to complete the challenges, so it would extend gameplay to the fullest for both of the achievements.

But any alts we level up would miss out on rewards and Pet Battle content in general. Other than the World Quests, the only other pet-related stuff to do is old(er) content, battle wild pets, and collect the new pets.

That would also mean those with full Pet Journals will have to patiently wait out the full 10 days (or more) for a cap increase. A full journal may result in the inability/desire to collect, cutting down pet content for some even further.

Non-account-wide quests would open things up and give us the ability to complete these achievements quickly or as slowly as we please. It would all depend on how much time you want to take to level multiple characters.

The downside is that it might make it a bit mandatory to level up more than one toon. No one likes to feel behind, so that may add pressure to some collectors to speed up the process by adding more toons to their work force. Some may not have the time to do that even if they wanted to.

But it seems like alts are more common place nowadays, so perhaps it won't be as bad.

Conclusion is, I don't know right now. There are pros and cons to both sides.

I don't mind having to patiently wait, and I kind of like the idea of a long-term investment with these achievements and quests.

But I also see the benefit of having non-account-wide quests. It would give us just more pet STUFF to do (even if it's the exact same stuff repeated for each toon), and earning/collecting pets faster is always a plus.

I guess I'll wait to hear more from the community before forming a firm opinion.

Saturday, May 7, 2016

I briefly mentioned this on Twitter but thought I'd expand on the idea here on my blog. Trainer Fame, a new currency and challenge.

Pet Charms are fine and all, as is any type of similar currency, but it doesn't necessarily add anything to Pet Battles. It's just a grind to collect as many as you can to spend at the vendors. There's also stagnation - the only thing that really changes from expansion to expansion is where the Pet Charms come from.

So what if there was a new form of currency? One that adds gameplay value and transitions well into each expansion?

Trainer Fame. The currency you never knew existed (because it doesn't) but you have to have. Something to consider for a future, future expansion.

What is Trainer Fame?

Think of it as something akin to PVP Honor points. It's not an item that goes into your bags; you simply have it on your character and NPCs recognize this. It's "fame" after all, right?

How would you earn it?

Here's the fun part! Fame would not be a static (or random) amount. How much you earn depends on how well you do in a PVE Trainer battle. The quicker you defeat the opponent, the more Fame you earn.

If you defeat a Trainer in 10 rounds, you'll earn 5 Fame. Defeat him/her in 5 rounds and you'll get a whopping 10 Fame. Just as an example. Values can be tweaked, of course.

The goal is to defeat Trainers in as few rounds as possible. Show off your prowess as a Pet Battler, earn notoriety, and then use it to buy awesome pet stuff!

Not only would it give us currency to strive for, it adds a challenge to each PVE encounter. And it continues to add that challenge to newer and even older content. Pet theorycrafters and battlers would constantly be refining teams to get wins with the fewest possible rounds.

Even once a "perfect" strategy has been created and readily accepted by the community, it wouldn't be the go-to strat forever. New pets are always being added, which can greatly impact strats and teams. 'X new pet cuts down my rounds by 3. I can earn a few more Fame points!'

Other mechanics could be added to this currency system as well. Just off the top of my head... ranks? Um, sure. Earn enough Fame and get promoted to the next Pet Trainer Rank. Perhaps certain items will require certain ranks: 'This item requires 50 Fame and Pet Trainer Rank 2' or something like that.

Fun interactions with pet-related NPCs depending on your Fame and/or Rank could also be interesting.

The Drawbacks
The downsides to the idea of Trainer Fame...

I could see newer/casual battlers feeling left out, as they may not earn a lot of Fame in the beginning due to their smaller pet roster or lack of Pet Battles insight. But more Fame would come as they progress and gradually learn the mechanics. There's room for growth.

There was an argument that once a strategy was created, it would spread around like a virus and nothing would change. Everyone would simply look up teams to use and any type of possible challenge would cease to exist. While that's true, it's also true now. Strats are easy to look up.

The difference is that there's no incentive to change anything or try to put together something better right now. Currently, if the community creates an acceptable team composition for a specific fight, that's it. It's done. Everyone can look it up and use it. We move onto the next one.

But with Fame, there's incentive to KEEP refining strategies. We all want to earn more, and with a dynamic currency like Fame there's a real possibility of being able to. So some will continue testing new ideas and trying out different teams, all to get the best possible outcome for the highest reward yield.

Plus the ever-changing battlefield of pets would give players a reason to continue experimenting with teams and strategies. Fame would give us a reason to keep going, and new pets would give us the means to do so.

Would it make content feel mandatory since some players will want to min/max their earnings? If there's the potential to earn/collect a reward, players will want to do it right? That's always a big concern, and if yes, perhaps Fame could be limited to only current content. Something along the lines of, 'Defeating older Trainers is so yesterday's news. But I hear there are some new Trainers that are looking to prove themselves...'

How would we transition from Pet Charms to Trainer Fame? One way would be to redeem them at a pet vendor. Or if there's an internal tracker that keeps track of how many charms your account has earned, perhaps the appropriate amount of Fame could simply be awarded to you at the start.

Right now I just don't see that many downsides to this idea. The pros seem to outweigh the cons. Am I missing anything? It's possible that I'm just too biased.

Anyway, this is merely one idea out many great ideas for Pet Battles. Something to catalog for consideration in the future. :)